The Islamic holiday of Ashura takes place on the tenth day of Muharram, mourning the death of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad and third Shia Imam who died at the Battle of Karbala in 680. The events leading up to and including Husayn’s death solidified the split between Sunni and Shia Islam, with Shias believing the legitimate Islamic Caliphs should be descended from Imam Ali, who ruled as the fourth and last of the Rashidun Caliphs and was the cousin of Muhammad.
The Discovery of America
12 October 1492 marks an event which was to change life on both sides of the Atlantic forever; this date represents the discovery of America. In 1492, the navigator Christopher Columbus, funded by the Spanish Crown, sailed westward from Spain in hopes of finding a new sea route to South and Southeast Asia. Despite initially Continue Reading
Edison’s Light Bulb
The invention of the light bulb was a process that took the scientific community the best part of the 19th century to complete and perfect. It was on 27 January 1880 that Thomas Edison, a relative newcomer to the field of research, was able to patent his light bulb design and make it ready for Continue Reading
The AIDs Crisis of the 1980s
The early 1980s was a scary period to live through for American homosexual men. Homophobia and discrimination not only effected day to day life but it went hand in hand with the threat of a highly infectious and fatal disease that had no known cure. The so called ‘AIDS crisis’ of the 1980s originated, paradoxically, Continue Reading
Howard Hughes: Iron Man
‘Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist’ (The Avengers, 2012) – the assured words of Tony Stark’s self-identification are comparable to the impressive historical figure of American inventor Howard Hughes. In fact, the character of Tony Stark and his father (also named Howard) have been confirmed to have been inspired by Hughes’ life and achievements. Born in 1905, Continue Reading